Historic Association names preservation award honorees

MANCHESTER - The bell-towered alumni hall at Saint Anselm College, a block of center-city apartments and the supposedly retired Union Leader photographer George Naum are three of the 10 recipients of this year's Historic Preservation Awards, the city's main historic preservation organization announced.

Other recipients include Public Service of New Hampshire, which will be honored for its leadership and legacy; Attorney Cathy Green, who will receive the neighborhood preservation award for maintaining the integrity of her 764 Chestnut Street office; and Megan and Stephen Cairns, for designing a historically-sensitive addition to their 2451 Elm Street home.

"We really try to balance it out so we have a variety of honorees," said Aurore Eaton, executive director of the Manchester Historic Association. "It shows a variety of wonderful historic preservation activities that are taking place in this city."

The award winners are scheduled to be feted at the 21st Annual Historic Preservation Awards Dinner, scheduled for April 17 at the Center of New Hampshire-Radisson Hotel. The $75-a-plate event usually draws about 250 people and is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Manchester Historic Association.

Former Union Leader columnist John Clayton is the honorary chair for the event.

Ed Brouder, a local historian, educator and a former radio broadcaster, will be master of ceremonies. Music will be provided by the Michael Shaughnessy Trio.

Naum worked as a photographer with the Union Leader for 45 years, capturing about 50,000 images of the city and state from the 1950s to the 1980s. He also volunteers at the Historic Association.

"It's a big surprise," Naum said about the award. He remembers being ordered by a former city editor to clean out a room filled with negatives. He contacted the Historic Association, which quickly hauled them away.

For the past few years, he has been working to catalogue the images and identify people in them.

"I'm having a ball" he said.

Other honorees are:

--Stewardship Award, St. Anselm College. For preserving Alumni Hall, the college's main administration building. It was completed in 1893, and a bell tower was added in 1912.

-- Neighborhood Improvement Award, Elm Grove Companies. For the rehabilitation of Allyson Apartments, 307 Merrimack St. The circa 1889 Victorian apartment building includes ornate columns at the entryways and the decorative brackets on the roof overhang. Original wood siding was preserved in a recent remodeling.

--Leadership and Advocacy Award, Public Service of New Hampshire. For efforts that support the preservation of Manchester's history. For many decades the company has maintained historical properties and natural landscapes in the city.

-- Homeowner's Award, Carter A. Beck. For care of the 1916 home at 1153 Union St. The striking Federal-Revival style house was built in 1916 by prominent architect C. R. Whitcher.

--Stewardship Award, Amoskeag Terrace Condominium Association. For care of Amoskeag Manufacturing Company townhouses built 1915-1916, the last worker housing built by the company.

--Neighborhood Preservation Award, Attorney Cathy J. Green. For care of the Africa Family home at 764 Chestnut St. The eclectic late Victorian-era home was built in 1902 as the home of business leader Walter G. Africa and his family.

--Design Award, Megan and Stephen Cairns. For the historically-sensitive addition to the north side of their 2451 Elm St. home.

--City Landmark Award, Brookside Congregational Church. For the historical and architectural significance of the church property. Dedicated in 1960, the soaring Colonial-Revival Brookside Congregational Church building provides a new and gracious home that replaced the aging Franklin Street Church downtown.